Pull 'em up or pay it down

fashion police

Published 4:00 am, Friday, August 31, 2007

From the small trailer that serves as Town Hall, Mayor Carol Broussard of Delcambre, La., signed into law an "anti-sag ordinance" in June.

Anybody wearing low-hanging, baggy pants that exposes his (or her) underwear or derriere would face a $500 fine and up to six months of jail time.

"If you expose some of your privates, the crack of your behind," the mayor was quoted as saying, you are guilty of "lewd behavior."

On Tuesday, city officials in Alexandria and Shreveport, both in Louisiana, also voted in favor of a ban on drooping drawers, with fines ranging from $25 to $200 and community service for violators. Mansport, a small town near Shreveport, will begin enforcing similar restrictions Sept. 15, and other versions are in the works in cities in New Jersey and Atlanta.

Every so often, officials try to outlaw sagging, but rather than having a chilling effect on the fad, the efforts seem to underscore the trend's persistent popularity. Often the bans wither under criticism that such restrictions are unconstitutional (as was the case last week in Stratford, Conn., when a dress code ordinance was shot down) or they fall by the wayside because they are unable to be effectively enforced. Several school districts in California and across the country have dress codes that forbid the wearing of baggy pants, but there seems to be a new push to make the ban more widespread.

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From its beginning in the 1990s, the low-slung style has connected low society with high society, street fashion with high fashion and literate culture with tribal oral culture. Baggy pants are to 2007 what the hemline was in the 1960s: a thermometer of American culture.

"Nobody wants to look like Urkel," says Tyre Montgomery, 18, of Emeryville, referring to the nerdy television character who wore his pants so high around his waist he had "wedgies." "Everybody wants to look cool," like Will Smith in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

That doesn't appease people like Diana Robinson, a pastor in Jacksonville, Fla., who started an organization called Pull Up Your Pants that distributes free belts in high schools across the state.

What makes sagging so provocative to some and so positive to others?

Perhaps the origins of its popularity are at the heart of the controversy. The loose pants style started when prison officials made inmates take off their belts and shoelaces because they were afraid that the prisoners would hang themselves with them.

Soon, hip-hop artists like Ice Cube (and N.W.A.) performed and composed lyrics about that subculture. In order to create powerful characters, they impersonated thug personas, down to their baggy pants. As hip-hoppers and rappers became superstars, so did their clothing.

In 1990, MC Hammer, wearing a pair of monstrously large baggy pants, treated the world to an electrifying performance in his "U Can't Touch This!" video. Nobody could. John Singleton's 1991 film, "Boyz n the Hood," was the first film to feature characters - one of whom was Ice Cube - wearing baggy pants. The following year rappers Kris Kross made a video, "Backwards Baggy Pants," in which they wear their pants backward.

By 1993, entrepreneur Russell Simmons began to sell baggy pants under his label Phat Farm. Soon, even hip-hop groups like Wu-Tang Clan (and FUBU) were offering their own lines.

When Simmons sold Phat Farm in 1997, it was worth $140 million and the baggy pants apparel was a $2 billion industry, according to NPD Fashion World, a New York consulting firm that tracks apparel and footwear sales.

Of course, coolness has its limits, and it is possible to wear pants that are too big and roomy.

For example, on June 16, the police in Galveston, Texas, were chasing a suspect who was quickly apprehended when his baggy pants fell down, foiling his getaway.

Despite the difficulty holding up the pants with one hand (known as "hitching"), and the increasing attempts by lawmakers to mandate how people can wear their clothing, it's unlikely that the look will lose its appeal anytime soon.

Kids want to be cool - and at the moment, many teens and young adults find that means wearing their pants baggy. And they are fine with risking a fine for the privilege.